Customer Rating: 
Summary: Classic
Comment: What can I say? This is THE Classic Who album. One of the all time best albums ever produced by anyone. The extra tracks threw me off though. I've listened to this album hundreds of times over the years and hearing extra songs seemed to tarnish the original.
Customer Rating:
Summary: one of the best rock LPs ever
Comment: Simply one of the best rock albums of all time and certainly the best Who Album
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Who at the Peak of Their Creative Power
Comment: What an album this is! "Who's Next" is The Who at the peak of their creativity. And one wonders what their creation would have been like had Pete Townshend ended up making his "Lifehouse" concept come into being. This CD has two essays in the liner notes--one by Townshend and the other by John Atkins, as they discuss the ambitious concept that would move far beyond their rock opera "Tommy." There were four recording sessions, according to the notes. When "Lifehouse" fell apart, bits and pieces were pulled together for "Who's Next." And, in this CD, four songs from the original "Lifehouse" project not in the original album are included here. Thus, there is an interesting historical aspect of this version of "Who's Next." That explains why this version has 16 cuts, more than the original recording.
Another singularity to this work is its use of electronic music (synthesizers), which had not been much apparent in rock and roll until that time.
A sampling of some of the songs.
"Baba O'Riley": One of the best Who songs--and one of the best in the annals of rock and roll. The sound is very different from that of The Who compared with just a few years earlier, featuring both keyboards and synthesizer. Of course, at the center of it all is The Who sound--Keith Moon on drums, John Entwistle on bass, Roger Daltrey's vocals, and Pete Townshend's guitar (as well as synthesizer, keyboard work, and sometimes vocals). On this cut, David Arbus contributes another twist with his violin work. One key line:
"Don't cry, don't raise your eye,
It's only teenage wasteland."
In fact, when I was younger, I thought the name of this song was "Teenage Wasteland"!
"Going Mobile." I love this song! It gets off to a lively start, with Moon's drumming anchoring the band.
"Going mobile, keep me moving."
Nice synthesizer effects, too.
"The Song Is Over": This starts off with some nice piano work by Nicky Hopkins and some cool guitar work by Townshend. Daltrey sings lines such as:
"The song is over.
It's all over.
I should have known it,
She tried to find me.
Our love is over."
A wonderful six minutes plus song.
What about "Won't Get Fooled Again"? Another terrific song.
"I tip my hat to the new revolution.
. . .
Pick up my guitar and play
. . .
Then I get on my knees to pray
We don't get fooled again."
Political commentary wed to steaming rock and roll. A hard combination to beat!
The song closes out with a primal wail from Daltrey and the final, climactic lines that speak to the disappointment with leaders who try to fool us:
"Meet the new boss,
Same as the old boss."
The original songs make this special, of course. The addition of several songs from the "Lifehouse" project makes this even more intriguing. Well worth 5 stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Their best...
Comment: I have to admit--I like The Who but I've never been a really big fan. But if I were stranded on a desert island, this would be one of the albums I'd like to have with me. Not a bad song in the lot--and of course THE best Who song ever -- "Won't Get Fooled Again".
Customer Rating:
Summary: means more to us than what you'll hear on the CD
Comment: One of the most essential of the Amazon "essential recordings", a candidate for greatest rock and roll album of all time - millions upon millions of words have been written about these songs which I can't really add much too except for one element of them that isn't captured on this CD.
While of course the music stands on its own merit, the most famous of these songs contain a profundity, a theatricality, a majesty and a drama (REAL DRAMA, not melodrama) that was not completely fulfilled until they were performed live (the only comparison that comes to my mind is Springsteen with "Rosalita" and "Badlands"). When The Who were at their performing peak, "Baba O'Reilly" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" were not only the most thrilling moments in the history of live rock performances, they were the most meaningful moments in the history of English-language popular music.
Tragically, the biggest hole in the Who's recorded legacy are the concerts where the Who's Next songs became the centerpiece. We have the soundstage show from "The Kids Are Alright", the out-of-print The Who Rocks America 1982 videotape and precious little else - even the marvelous crowd dynamic you see with "The Concert for New York City" can't make up for the already obvious fading of Roger's voice. I don't have a good feel for the bootlegs, and I'm not sure I can even bring those up on Amazon anyway.
What these songs really mean isn't going to be known until people get to hear the way they were done onstage - I'm hoping whoever reads this will use the comments to help younger Who fans get to experience what I did.
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